Eve Vaughn (4 page)

Each one of her ankles was grabbed and then shackled to the bed. Heyzah looped a hook through the fastening of her straightjacket that anchored her onto the bed. If they believed this would break her, they had another think coming.

She wiggled and writhed, trying to break free but to no avail. After a while, Holly realized the only thing she was accomplishing was tiring herself out.

Heyzah smirked. “Are you finished yet?”

“Never!” she yelled just to be contrary.

“The only person you’re hurting is yourself if you keep that up.”

“You may have me now, but what are you going to do when other people find out about what the rest of your kind is doing to us? I know about the stealing of natural resources, the clinic, and the damn drug that’s being put into the food.” Heyzah laughed, but not before his expression gave way to what looked like annoyance. “That’s the kind of talk that will keep you here. How can you expect to get better if you make up these elaborate conspiracy theories?”

“They’re not made up and you know it.”

The doctor leaned forward, so close she could smell his stale breath. “But you can’t prove it,” he whispered. “Who’s going to believe someone in a mental institution?”

Though she couldn’t move her limbs, there was one thing she still had left. She spit in the alien’s face, showing him her disgust. Her victory was short-lived however when he backhanded her so hard she wrenched her neck. From out of nowhere, he produced a large syringe.

Holly hated needles. “No!” she screamed.

The doctor smiled, revealing razor sharp teeth. “I can assure you, Miss Combs, this will hurt.” He jabbed the sharp point into her flesh, and injected her with a greenish fluid.

31

She figured it must have been some type of drug to make her sleepy, but instead the room began to spin and wild colors danced before her eyes. The three Cyrellians standing next to her bed, observing her actions, began to distort and twist. What was happening to her? A strong wave of nausea hit her so violently she turned her head to vomit, but nothing came up.

What had they done to her and why did she feel so sick?

The three aliens began to speak in their native tongue and she had no idea what they were saying. Her head began to pound and her thoughts became murky. Had they just poisoned her?

What was going on?

She didn’t want to die like this -- couldn’t let them win, but the pain coursing through her being was becoming unbearable. Whenever she moved even the slightest bit, her muscles cried out for relief. Whatever they had injected her with, it was far worse than any torture she could have thought of.

Holly lay as still as possible, but it still felt as if her insides were being sliced apart with razors. Tears slid from the corners of her eyes and finally she prayed for the sweet release of death.

Anything was better than this.

Suddenly, a loud explosion sounded in the distance. The Cyrellians looked at one another before running out of the room, probably to see what the commotion was.

Holly didn’t care if the entire building fell down around her, anything would be better than the agony she currently suffered.

She didn’t know how much time passed before she was rejoined. This time it wasn’t a Cyrellian, but a man.

He said something but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Who was he and why did he look so familiar? Holly was almost certain she’d seen him somewhere before, but her vision was so blurry at this point she couldn’t make out much.

He produced a menacing looking weapon which he brought down in a wide arc.

Holly held her breath, wondering what he was doing, but she could barely raise her

32

head. The man seemed to be sawing away at something. Then he moved to the other side of her and repeated the motion. Once he completed his task, he worked on the hook connecting her straightjacket to the bed post, and finally the fastenings holding her arms immobile.

Though he’d somehow freed her, she didn’t want to move because it hurt too much.

The man grasped her by her forearms, pulling her out of the bed. Holly wanted to scream from the excruciating pain tearing through her body, but her vocal cords were paralyzed.

Just as he gathered her into his arms, she mercifully blacked out.

Chase gently laid Holly down on the makeshift bed in his hideout, and then proceeded to undo the straightjacket and strip it away from her. In her unconscious state, she twitched and moaned. When he touched her forehead with the back of his hand, Chase discovered she was burning up. What had they done to her? Was it already too late?

Pulling out his canteen he opened it and placed the mouth against her parched lips. He tilted her head back and poured a little down her throat, careful not to choke her. To his relief, she gulped the water. That was a good sign. He gave her a little more of the liquid.

It was too bad there was no running water in his hideout; otherwise Chase would administer a cool bath to bring the fever down. If the streets weren’t currently crowded with law enforcement, looking for him, he would have headed toward base, but it was too dangerous. He’d have to wait until the next night to make the attempt out of the city. If Holly weren’t with him, he’d take a chance and leave immediately, but he refused to put her at risk. Chase realized if they got their hands on her again, they would kill her outright and him. But he wasn’t worried about himself.

The fluid in his canteen was cool enough so it would have to do. Chase removed her clothing until she was in her bra and panties. Then he removed his T-shirt to use as a makeshift rag and wet it. He kept his mind blank as he moved the damp cloth over her forehead and body, hoping this was providing her some relief.

He repeated the motion, making sure to get every inch of exposed skin. His task became more difficult as he continued. She was so beautiful and all he wanted to do was brush his lips against hers again. Just one taste would do. If only… No.
Stop
thinking with your dick
.

34

Suddenly Holly’s eyes popped open and she groaned. Chase stiffened, waiting for her to make the next move.

“Hurts,” she whispered.

“I know. It’s okay. I’ll take care of you.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. She was probably adjusting to the dim lighting of his mini heliolamp. “You,” she croaked. “Why are you here?”

“Don’t talk. You’re going to need to reserve all of your strength for our escape tomorrow night.”

She licked her dry lips. Chase couldn’t help following the motion of her pink tongue running across those bow-shaped lips. He had to take a deep breath in order to get his raging hormones under control.

“Escape from where?”

“The city. We can’t leave now, because there will be too many patrolmen on the streets looking for us.”

“Won’t they continue to look for us until we’re found?”

“Probably, but they won’t have as many people on the lookout after tonight.

They probably don’t want to draw too much attention to the hunt because people would begin to wonder why they’re using so much manpower.”

“They’d probably say we’re armed, and dangerous, like they did with Sydney.” Her voice was weak.

Chase ran the damp cloth over her head. “How do you feel?” He had a pretty good idea, but he wanted to hear where she ached.

“I hurt all over. Not as badly as I did when they first injected me with that green junk, but it’s still painful to move. I’m so hot.”

“You’ve got a fever, which is why I need you to rest. I think the more sleep you get the better you’ll feel.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Not long. A few hours. I had to find a temporary hiding place before we made it to this location because I was afraid we might be spotted.”

35

“Oh.” She moved her head from side to side and then winced.

“I’d offer you some type of pain medication, but seeing as most of the drugs on this planet are manufactured by the Cyrellians, I don’t think that would be a good idea.

One never knows what they’ll get. I’ll continue to wipe you down with this cool water and hopefully your fever will break soon.”

Holly attempted to lift herself onto her elbows, but immediately fell back into a prone position. “Oww,” she groaned. “What the hell did they give me?”

“You say the stuff was green?”

“Yes,” she whispered weakly.

“Did you see different colors dancing before your eyes? Did the objects around you look distorted?”

She nodded. “Yes to all of those questions. But how did you know?”

“It sounds like they administered you something they call the essence of pain.

Apparently they used it on the patients they experimented on in the clinic to keep them in line. Also from my understanding, Cyrellian scientists have been testing it on some of the humans to make the drug more powerful. For what purpose we have yet to determine, but my personal belief is that they are attempting to make it powerful enough to become lethal.”

“When that stuff shot through my body, I thought I
would
die.” Chase placed a finger over her lips. “Shh. You should rest. We can talk about this later.” He could see how much of an effort it was for her to speak. “Would you like a drink of water?”

“Yes, please.”

He took the canteen and placed it against her lips and after she’d had a few sips, he pulled it away. “I know you could probably use more, but we’ll need to conserve what’s left in here for our trip back to the base. Besides, I’ve already used a great deal bathing you.”

A tear slid from the corner of one of her soulful brown eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

36

Chase shook his head. “There’s no need to apologize. I didn’t mean it as a criticism. Just close your eyes and get some rest. I’ll be here if you need me.”

“But --”

“No buts. Relax.”

“Okay.” Though she lowered her lids Chase knew she wasn’t sleeping. It would probably be a few more hours before the effects of the essence of pain wore off, but hopefully she would be able to fall asleep soon.

He’d learned about this particular drug through Jack, who had suffered at the hands of the Cyrellians when he was kept locked in a glass cage for months along with several other patients while the aliens performed medical experiments on them. Jack had told him whenever one of the patients dared to fight back or get rowdy, they were either beaten or given an injection of the foul drug. From Jack’s description, Chase knew the drug caused muscle spasms and an excruciating ache that made the sufferer wish for death.

To see Holly going through this tore at his heart. He wished it was him dealing with this instead. She was as brave as she was beautiful. Unable to help himself, he bent over, placed a kiss against her soft cheek and quickly pulled away in case she protested.

Fortunately she didn’t and Holly’s slow, even breathing told him she’d somehow managed to doze off.

Chase took this time to study her lovely face. After all these weeks of fantasizing about her, she was here with him, and she was everything he’d remembered her being.

She had beautiful alabaster skin, the kind that made a man itch to touch it to see if it was as silky smooth as it looked.

It was.

Her eyes were a warm chocolate brown that invited him to look deep into them.

When she’d turned his way during their first encounter, he remembered being blown away by them. They were so large and expressive. A man could get lost in them. Her lips though small were beautifully curved, and he’d spent many hours daydreaming

37

about how they would feel beneath his. Chase took in her every detail from the tilt-tipped nose to the mole at the corner of her left eye.

And her body.

It had his pulse racing. Chase had always had a thing for women with meat on their bones. Holly’s abundant curves from her large breasts to her big ass and thick thighs had made his cock jump to attention.

“Down, boy,” he muttered to himself. He’d need every ounce of his willpower to resist her.

The first time they fucked, and he would make sure they did, Chase wanted Holly to want it as much as he did. But first they would have to make it through to the next night in order for that to happen.

* * *

Holly was having the most delicious dream. Strong corded arms were wrapped around her waist and hands cupped her breasts, kneading them until her nipples were hard peaks. She rubbed her thighs together to temper the heat burning within.

Those hands felt wonderful. She let out a moan, pushing her rear against the warmth pressing against her back. Holly encountered something hard pushing into her bottom. She wiggled her hips, reveling over the hard object against her flesh.

“Oh, Holly,” a man’s soft whisper caressed her ear.

She stiffened and her eyes opened. This wasn’t a dream! Someone was actually holding her and fondling her breasts. The hard thing she’d felt was a cock. But whose?

She pulled out of the arms wrapped around her and rolled away. Then she realized she was in her bra and panties.

Her attacker groaned and then turned to his side. He was sleeping! What in the world was going on and where the heck was she? It was dark save for the dim glow of a heliolamp. She was in a small room, empty except for a furnace in the corner. There was a pile of blankets lying in the corner where she had lain with the mystery man. Did she dare move closer to find out who he was? Or did she get out of here and run?

38

Deciding on self-preservation, she looked around for her clothing. Holly breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted them a few feet away, but the emotion was short-lived when the sleeping man suddenly sat up.

“Where are you going?” he murmured. “Come back to bed.” She whirled around to see a large blond man sitting in the corner. Recognition suddenly hit her. “You!” It was
him
. The one who’d blown up the clinic and the very same man she’d tried her best to forget over these past several weeks.

He gave her a crooked grin before getting to his feet. Damn he was large. It wasn’t so much his height because he barely cleared six feet, but he was so broad. And in his current shirtless state, he looked like a hulk with all those bulging muscles. That mane of dark blond hair was just as wild as she remembered.

Chase bent down and adjusted the heliolamp to bring more light to the room. “I see you’re up.”

“What am I doing here?” she demanded.

“Looks like you’ve made a nice recovery, but if you continue to raise your voice we’re likely to have some unwanted visitors busting in here.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but I’m leaving right this minute!”

He cocked one sinister brow. “And where exactly would you go? You’re a wanted woman, and what’s worse you’ve just escaped from an insane asylum. I’m sure your face is all over the news right now. No one will want to give refuge to a crazy person.”

It all came back to her. Holly had awakened in the mental institution. Her last memory had been of feeling a pain so intense she thought she was done for, but here she was. “How did I get here? What did you do to me? I remember being in that horrible place with that thing who called himself a doctor, but how --”

“One question at a time, doll. You’re obviously suffering a side-effect of the drug they administered to you. Besides causing you a great deal of pain, it can also cause some memory loss. In order to get to you, I had to blow up part of the structure. Not the

39

entire building, mind you, because you were still in it, but I needed a distraction. I placed a bomb at the front of the institution and then snuck in through the back. I made my way to the section where they kept patients like you.”

“What do you mean patients like me?”

“The ones they’re holding against their will. You must have done something they didn’t like, which is why you were captured. Anyway, when I got close enough to your ward, I set off the bomb. I figured everyone would be running toward it to see what the commotion was and that would give me enough time to set you free. Fortunately you were in the second room I peeked in.”

She frowned. “And you managed to carry me to this place?”

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I had to make stops on the way, because I didn’t want to chance getting to this hideout in one shot. That would have been much too dangerous. When we finally made it here, you were still hurting and you had a fever, so I undressed and bathed you.” Heat rushed to her cheeks. What must he have been thinking while he was seeing her in this near naked state? She felt like a big slob under his gaze. Her size was something she had come to accept as her lot in life, because she knew she’d never be a small woman. Most times, it didn’t bother her, but the way his gaze roamed her body so freely, Holly was self-conscious. She placed her hands over her rounded stomach.

“Would you stop looking at me like that?” she snapped.

Again that brow rose. “Like what?”

“Like I’m a juicy piece of meat. Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not polite to stare?”

“I can’t help it.”

“Then try.” She snatched up her clothes.

“You’re a beautiful woman, Holly.”

She snorted. “Please don’t use that line on me again. We both know you’re full of shit.”

40

“I have no reason to lie, Holly. Surely you know how desirable you are. Haven’t I proved that to you once before?”

Her nostrils flared, as she angrily dressed. “I don’t want to be reminded of that incident. It was just one of those things.”

His lips tilted into a full grin. Holly wanted to smack him, but instead turned her back to him so she’d no longer have to stare at that knowing smile. Even now her body was tingling from being close to him. Why did he have to remind her of her wanton behavior? She’d never acted that way with any man before and felt humiliated to be at the mercy of her own body.

She jumped when he brought his hands to her shoulders. Holly attempted to shrug him off but his grip tightened. Chase pulled her back against him. “You wanted me.”